Rohrbach

Rohrbach is a municipality in the Oberaargau administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

Rohrbach was first mentioned in 795 as Roorbah when a local noble, Heribold, gave his lands in Madiswil to the church in Rohrbach. In the 9th century some land around the village was given to the Abbey of St. Gall. The Abbey established an administrator in Rohrbach to manage their lands in the Oberaargau region. Since the Abbey was an Imperial Abbey, the administrator and the landholders on the Abbey's land had immunity from the local count's court and could only be arrested or tried by the Abbey court. At the beginning of the 14th century the bailiwick and the low court of the local Barons of Ruti. Between 1314 and 1370 both offices were held by the Count of Signau and after 1371 by the Count of Grünenberg. The Grünenberg Counts incorporated the village into their personal territory. Hermann of Eptingen then acquired the rule over the village by marriage. He supported the Austrian Habsburgs in the Old Zürich War and lost the village to a Bernese army. After the war, the village was returned to his wife in 1449. In 1504 Bern bought the entire village from Hermann's decedents. In 1505 the village was incorporated into the bailiwick of Wangen. However, Rohrbach retained several special privileges. They were exempt from forced labor for the bailiff and in wars they marched under the banner of the city of Bern. After the 1798 French invasion it was part of the District of Langenthal in the Helvetic Republic and in 1803 it went to the District of Aarwangen.

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